11-Year Old Cancer Survivor Catches Fire In Hospital Bed

2/20/2013 10:15 AM ET

Ireland Lane, an 11 year-old girl hospitalized for a head injury, was the victim of what authorities think was spontaneous combustion owed to a combination of flammable hand sanitizer and static electricity, an Oregon news agency reports.

Lane, a cancer survivor, suffered severe burns requiring skin grafts and burn treatment to her chest, neck, arms and earlobes after the accident in the Portland hospital on February 2. Her father, Stephen, who was asleep in the room at the time, helped put out the blaze with his own body.

"She still has bad dreams, but she doesn't recall the actual incident, which from my perspective is very good," Stephen told The Oregonian.

The paper says Avagard D, the hand sanitizer blamed for the blaze, is 61 percent alcohol and comes with warning that it should not be used near a flame.

In the past six years, Lane has beaten kidney cancer twice. "She's quite a tough one," her dad added.